McMonagle Forces 2-2 Tie With First Goal of Season

Canton, NY ^ Junior Sean McMonagle (Oakville, ONT) scored his first goal of the season with 6:27 remaining to lift the Brown men's ice hockey team (0-3-1, 0-1-1) to a 2-2 tie with St. Lawrence (4-2-1, 1-0-1) on Saturday afternoon at Appleton Arena.

The Bears fell behind, 1-0, just 6:54 into the game when Kevin DeVergilio scored off assists from Jacob Drewiska and Jeff Caister.

However, Brown earned its only power-play chance of the first period at exactly eight minutes in and quickly tied the game just 15 seconds later when freshman Jeff Buvinow (Turnersville, NJ) netted his first career goal. Seniors Matt Vokes (Auburn, MA) and Ryan Garbutt (Winnipeg, MAN) both assisted the goal.

The rest of the period remained scoreless and Brown's defense continued to hold strong, stopping three straight Saints' power-play chances in the final six minutes of play, including a two-man advantage with under a minute left in the frame.

The two teams nearly played a scoreless second period, but with just 28.3 seconds remaining, Shawn Fensel gave St. Lawrence a 2-1 lead, scoring from the high slot with 13 seconds left on a two-man advantage for the Saints. It was the first power-play goal allowed by the Bears in 16 chances, as they were 10-10 last night against Clarkson and 6-6 against St. Lawrence prior to the goal.

McMonagle tied the game with 6:27 remaining in regulation, scoring another power-play goal for Brown on a Bears' two-man advantage. With 10:09 remaining, the Saints took a five-minute major penalty for hitting from behind. Another St. Lawrence penalty 1:59 into the five-minute major gave Brown a two-man advantage for a full two minutes, setting up McMonagle's tying goal, assisted by Vokes and junior Devin Timberlake (Port Alberni, BC).

With just 13 seconds remaining in regulation the Bears were whistled for a penalty, giving the Saints their eighth power-play of the game heading into the extra period. The Saints thought they had won the game early in the extra period but junior Dan Rosen (Syosset, NY) made the save to keep the score tied. The Bears were relentless in killing the power-play, which effectively became a five-on-three after sophomore Harry Zolnierczyk (Toronto, ONT) was without a stick for the final 30 seconds of the man-advantage.

The rest of the overtime was all Brown, as the Bears took three shots to close out the game. Senior Matt Palmer (Anchorage, AK) had the final attempt with less than 30 seconds remaining after junior Aaron Volpatti (Revelstoke, BC) won an offensive zone faceoff, but Alex Petizian made the save, as the two teams each picked up one point.

For the game, Rosen finished with 35 saves, while Petizian made 27 for St. Lawrence. Brown returns to action next Saturday, November 15, when it travels to Yale to face the Bulldogs in a 7:00 p.m. ECAC Hockey contest.